 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| Nu Entertainment Productions |
| Nu Magazine |
| Peaches Rodriguez, Crowned Saturday as The Funniest Professional Comic in Connecticut! Peaches Rodriguez is a Latina Stand-up Comic from Connecticut who was a world class break dancer in the Eighties. Her mix of twisted Perspective and Edgy humor has won her a place in the Annual Jack Daniels Latino Comedy Festival. |
| Hundreds Slain at Comedy-on-Main By RICK GUINNESS, Herald staff |
Peaches Rodriguez competed against more than 250 other comics for the 1st prize of $2,000.00 plus $1,000.00 in work from the Treehouse Comedy Club chain. Brad Azelrod, President of the organization, which sponsored the entire contest said, "This has been one of the most successful events in Connecticut comedy history." Treehouse is a Connecticut staple who, in the 1980's and 90's was home to the comedy boom and was host to Jerry Seinfeld, Paul Reiser and every comedy legend of that ear to ever grace the stage. According to Axelrod, "Comedy is just booming again!" He may just have a point! Over 220 people were in attendance to see the finals at Trinity-on- Main and every prior elimination venue was packed with standing room only! |
NEW BRITAIN — The annual funniest-comic-in-Connecticut contest culminated Saturday night at the Trinity-on- Main performing arts center with the announcement of winners in professional and amateur divisions. The series started with a pool of 250 competitors. Eliminations were held at various clubs throughout the state over the past several weeks, leaving Peaches Rodriguez champ of the professional division and Jim Sharky as best amateur comic. Sharky said he had been in a lot of contests, but had never before won. Saturday, before a crowd of more than 220 people, was a big win. In addition to $500 in cash, Sharky was able to secure work in comedy through Brad Axelrod, the promoter whose Treehouse Comedy Productions brings comedy to Trinity-on-Main throughout its performance season. Rodriguez, who said she got into comedy “for the fun of it,” was in rare form Saturday. “After my first two jokes tanked, I thought, ‘They hate me,’ ” Rodriguez said, but if she was thinking about bombing, it didn’t show. During the course of her 10 minutes, she found her timing and had the crowd eating out of her hand. She was awarded more than $2,000 and a comparable amount of work from Axelrod. The competition was judged by a panel of three who took into account stage presence, likability, material, timing and the indefinable catch-all category of “funny” and deducted points from comics who used more than two “F-bombs” per set or ran over their allotted time of seven minutes for amateurs and 10 for professionals. The night was very funny and every comic’s set was likely to offend somebody with its content, with or without “F- bombs.” Little of what was said over the nearly four-hour show was printable in a family newspaper — certainly not the funniest stuff. Comic John Hinton told the audience he had a girl who liked expensive places. “I took her to the gas station,” he said. “We made out at Pump 10.” Master of ceremonies Billy Winn told the story of how he took his wife on vacation and she was pulled out of line at the airport in Florida by two security guards with wands. They told her to unbutton her shirt, unbuckle her pants and take off her shoes. While watching her comply with the Homeland Security procedures, he said to himself, “I've got to get one of those wands.” Sharky bashed Bush supporters who still haven’t scratched off their Bush/Cheney bumper stickers. He also riffed on the recent horrors to come from the Texas polygamist camp, saying he told a polygamist it was wrong to marry a 13- year-old girl. “The guy said she doesn't look a day over 8,” Sharky said. Rodriguez’s work also showed a mix: There a somewhat gentle impression of Michelle Jackson (Michael Jackson taking the next logical step and getting a sex change operation). Rodriguez, a tall woman, was surprisingly agile and managed to not only sing like Jackson, but to also move like him. She also joked about a new model of cars named after parts of the body. “Wherever you park it, men can’t find it,” she said. The night was not just a success for Trinity-on-Main — the show ran until around midnight, and nearly everyone stayed until the very end — but for the downtown district, as 40 people from the audience filed into the new, nearby Hardware City Tavern after the show for drinks and conversation. The next Trinity-on-Main comedy event is scheduled for May 17. For information about Comedy-on-Main events, or to catch the acts of any of the comedians featured in the contest, visit www.TreeHousecomedy.com. Rick Guinness can be reached at rguinness@newbritainherald.com or (860) 225-4601, ext. 236. |
| PEACHES RODRIGUEZ WAS CROWNED SATURDAY AS "THE FUNNIEST COMIC IN CONNECTICUT" AT TRINITY-ON-MAIN IN NEW BRITAIN CT. |
"After my two first jokes tanked, I thought... That's it, it's over for me", Rodriguez said, "I'm out..as a matter of fact I was on my phone backstage as they were announcing the 5th place winner and I put my phone back down and rose to get up... because that's were my head was! I honestly did not think I had a good set! When they said my name, I was floored and astonished!" Peaches, originally from Windsor Locks, Connecticut, has been doing comedy over 8 years and was previously a dancer when an injury to her knee forced her into another field. As a professional comic and as a female she said, "The road has been tougher than that of a male comic because you have to prove yourself right out of the box... audiences need to be made comfortable immediately. They need to know that you can do the job. When they see a woman step on stage there is an anticipatory moment... Then, a little sigh of relief... Oh, she's go it. Okay, I can relax, she's funny." |
directing urban films, with the culmination of several short and full length films. One of her films entitled "Latin Heavy Hitters of Comedy" was shown at the Urban-World Film Festival and is currently being looked at by two distribution companies. Rodriguez says "I am going to go with the company that gives me a career, not just a one offer film deal." The two companies are competing with offers of a three picture distribution deal. "I guess my goal is to be the Latina Woody Allen...produce, direct and produce a great and up-lifting product." Peaches also has a series entitled "Hittin" which profiles up and coming performers who have attained a certain underground level of fame but not hit the big time yet. The criteria for being in the "Hittin" series is that each one of the performers must also participate in outreach programs. My standards are very high - besides being an extraordinary performer, those performers MUST give back to their community. Regarding the entertainment industry, Peaches said "The entertainment industry is changing very fast and most performers are not keeping up. For instance, the concept of doing stand-up in the City Clubs, and someone sees you and brings you to HBO then gives you a network series doesn't exist anymore. I know comics who are spinning their wheels in the city comedy clubs, doing late night gigs for $25.00 so they can get discovered...that old system is gone. The new system is hits on Youtube and traffic to your websites. Case in point...Dane Cook. Word has it that Cook was in a meeting with the an HBO Executive who didn't believe that he had the number to sustain and HBO special, and Dane says "Yeah? Just let me long onto your computer and go to my home site." Five minutes later due to the e-mails and instant mail, HBO's computer system crashed. Some of Peaches' online videos (Youtube) have seen over 18,000 hits! "I feel very excited that the industry has changed and the control of content is more in the hands of everyday people like me. It gives us an opportunity that didn't exist before. It use to be that only the mega media giants could produce a movie. It's become a more user generated entertainment." "Don't get me wrong", Peaches says "I am not a big fan of these reality shows, but other developments within the industry are great. I like that there is support for smaller made Indi Films and the need for audiences to support the little guy/girl, like me." Peaces will continue to do her films and perform in both large and small venues as well as corporate and lecture speaking events for colleges and organizations. She has done comedy speaking at Princeton, Fordam and University of Texas at Austin. She's even done The Riviera Hotel and Casino twice in Las Vegas and hopes to return with her whole show, complete with back up dancers! Peaches will be performing at the City Steam Comedy Club in Hartford, Connecticut on May 29th through May 31st. For more information about Peaches Rodriguez visit her website at Gopeaches.com. To view her short films go to Youtube and type PEACHES RODRIGUEZ in the search box. For upcoming Treehouse Comedy shows please visit their website - TREEHOUSECOMEDY.COM --PEACHES RODRIGUEZ |
| Below is the article from the New Britain Herald posted on Sunday April 27, 208 |
| Page 5 |
| Are you subscribed to this FREE online magazine? Don't miss next month's issue! Join our mailing list now. |
For more info - CLICK HERE